PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY TO THE SAVE VENICE LEGAL DEFENSE FUND YOUR DONATIONS, LARGE OR SMALL, ARE URGENTLY NEEDED TO KEEP THIS LAWSUIT IN THE COURT – THANK YOU! PRESS RELEASE February 2, 2017 VC-PUCC LAWSUIT CLAIMING CITY OF LA SIDESTEPS ITS RESPONSIBILITIES IN APPROVING VENICE DEVELOPMENTS WITHOUT PUBLIC PROCESS MOVES FORWARD City Said: Dismiss The […]

BONIN’S B.I.D. BUDDIES — CARL LAMBERT AND MARK SOKOL From MichaelKohlhaas.org: I reported a couple of weeks ago that as late as two months ago, Mike Bonin aide Debbie Dyner Harris had refused to tell Becky Dennison of Venice Community Housing the names of the three members of the Board of Directors of the […]

BAN THE VENICE B.I.D Here we go again! Another giant step in the gentrification of Venice is on it’s way — the proposed formation of a Business Improvement District (BID), initiated by Carl Lambert (currently being sued by the City Attorney for operating illegal hotels in Venice and illegally evicting tenants) and the Venice […]

When not manning Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) election boxes, being a key player in the Venice Chamber of Commerce’s (VCC) controversial takeover of the VNC, or evicting rent stabilized tenants from their homes, former Venice Chamber President Carl Lambert may now add fighting criminal charges to his list of activities. Read more

On April 5, 2016 the Venice Coalition to Preserve our Unique Community Character (VC-PUCC) Led a Walking Tour Illustrating Their Lawsuit Against the City of Los Angeles’ Flagrant Disregard for Its Own Planning Policies Venice, CA: Tuesday, April 5th, 2016 – Acclaimed land use attorney, Sabrina Venskus, explains in detail the “Save Venice” lawsuit to […] […]

The “Half the Oil” Plan

As avid bicycle riders, most of the staff here at the Beachhead are already doing their part to cut down on our use of oil and, in the process, leading us to a greener, cleaner, sustainable future.

But if we really want to live in a world where we are substantially less dependent on oil, it’s going to take some planning and creative thinking to achieve it. We’re lucky though, in that the Union of Concerned Scientists has already done a lot of creative thinking for us and have come up with the Half the Oil plan.

This plan, if fully implemented, would cut our oil consumption in half by 2035. That’s the equivalent of saving 11 million barrels of oil a day.

The plan would achieve this reduction in a number of already proven ways, primarily through improving vehicle fuel economy, retrofitting millions of homes and businesses to use less energy and develope better, cleaner and greener bio-fuels.

With more efficient engine design, stronger, but lighter materials and hybrid electric power trains most of the technologies needed to save 1 million barrels of oil a day, by 2025, already exist. Doubling the efficiency of our commercial vehicles would save another million barrels of oil a day, by 2035.

And it’s not just cars that need to be retrofitted and redesigned. Twenty five percent of our oil use currently goes to the heating of homes and other buildings, many of which, by using less oil, would not just reduce our dependence on fossil fuel, but would save consumers millions of dollars in heating costs and lessen green house gases.

Finally, the use of cellulosic biofuels may be the most promising way of all to rid us of our addiction to oil. With the use of such things as perennial grass, agricultural residues left over from harvesting and even our garbage, we could save another 1.5 million barrels a day. And unlike corn ethanol, which puts severe stress on our food supplies, cellulosic biofuels frees up corn to be better used for food production and would rid us of the need for another 1.5 million barrels of oil a day.

And again, most of this technology and know-how already exists. We just have to manifest the political will necessary to ensure that such a common-sense sustainable plan is put into practice over the coming decade.

So check out the Half the Oil plan yourself at: www.halftheoil.org and then call your local Congressperson and tell them to get with the plan.